2004 Ford Ka from UK and Ireland - Comments

1. Noisy clutch release bearing.

2. Stiff engaging gears and too much pedal travel before engaging gear - bite point.

3. Ticks over too quick you can drive it with out touching the accelerator.

4. It as excessive road noise, sound like you are travelling on a underground Train possible wheel bearings going.

5. The steering squeals went you do a three point turn or on full lock.

6. Brakes feel very poor not responsive, you have to apply excessive peddle pressure and you can feel the peddle transferring the harshness of of contact between the pads and discs.

Buyer beware!!!

Purchased by Niece conned by sale's talk and colour.

Poor quality of car, brought with 9477 miles two months later and about 700 miles of driving done wished I haven't got it.

Very basic cheaply put together, built for looks and nothing else.

Very poor value for your money, my extra with car was a radio/cassette as standard.

Poor persons car, who thinks because it's a Ford should be good.

No back seat head room, is a two persons car only.

No power considering 1300cc.You can push by hand so is a light car, appears old technology re-badged.

Have nothing good to say about it, except Ford tried to capture it market on the cheap, for the sake of a few pound this car will cost them lot of long term returning customers.

Would not recommend you touch with a barge pole Any foreign car can beat on all points.

"Very basic cheaply put together, built for looks and nothing else."

It's a cheap "runabout" city car and was only ever sold as such. What did you expect, a Mercedes E class?

"Very poor value for your money, my extra with car was a radio/cassette as standard."

Which means you got the basic one. Which means it was cheap. Or should have been.

"Poor persons car, who thinks because it's a Ford should be good."

What?! I have no idea what that is supposed to mean.

"No back seat head room, is a two persons car only."

Oh come on, look at the size of the car! What did you expect?

"No power considering 1300cc.You can push by hand so is a light car, appears old technology re-badged."

Had you done any research whatsoever, you would have quickly discovered the engine is based on an old 1960's design. Again, for the type of car it's fitted to, it's just fine. Simple, cheap, tough, low maintenance, economical. The SportKa offers a more modern engine and more power, but if it's power you want, why are you even wasting time looking at this type of car? Your expectations are comical.

"Have nothing good to say about it, except Ford tried to capture it market on the cheap, for the sake of a few pound this car will cost them lot of long term returning customers."

I think a far greater failing is your lack of research, lack of knowledge, and your clearly ridiculous expectations out of what is one of the cheapest cars on the market. Didn't you take a test drive???

"Any foreign car can beat on all points."

Of course it can. If you say so.

I totally agree with the last persons comments. This car is meant to be a cheap runabout. You can't expect BMW quality for ford money. This is NOT a poor persons car, I spent nearly £10000 on my KA so its not the type of money people give away.

Power Steering is meant to hiss when you put the car into full lock, I have a focus and that makes a hell of a noise when its put onto full lock, it depends what type of pump is fitted to the car. As for excessive road noise, my wife has a luxury KA and we can't say that its noisier than any other small car. If the bearings are going go back to the garage that sold you the car.

How can you say that ford will loose a lot of returning customers? This car is one of the most popular ford models of all time. Selling nearly 2 million cars since it was introduced in 1996 and sales are still going strong, that can't be said for any other model that is nearly 10 years old and not a bit of the design as changed.

How is it poor value for money unless you were conned into spending a ridicoulouly large amount on a car that isn't worth it, hardly the cars fault. You obviously bought one of the bottom of the range KA's where only a cassette was fitted, if you're not happy with that why did you buy the car or why didn't you pay the extra to get one with a CD player in it. How could you expect buying a little car like that and wanting it to have a powerful engine and headroom, you should have at least researched or sat in the car first.

You've gone and bought a bottom of the range car with ridiculously high expectations. It does exactly what it says on the tin. Its solidly built, cheap, nippy, reliable and fantastic value for money. If you want to see a badly built and designed car, go and buy a proton or kia.

In my opinion the Ford KA is a great little run-about car, it doesn't excel in any department, but unless you bought it with your eyes closed, you can't have too many complaints with it.

My initial thoughts on the KA: a good looking, small sporty run-around. Because it is cheap in comparison to other 1300cc small cars it was the perfect car for me. I have owned a KA for a couple of months now (perhaps to early for an unbiased review) and I have to say I am mostly impressed. The KA has a unique design both in and out, there is a small storage compartment in the back for rear passengers and a cup holder in the middle. In the door compartments there is plenty of room for the driver and front passanger to store drinks ect.

The performance of the car is pretty good with fast acceleration in the low gears and the top end is smooth and comfortable too! also because of the position of the wheels you feel safe and confident when taking corners with no sense of over or under-steer.

The KA is light and compact weighing in under a ton, which makes the car extremely economical and partly why the car is so nippy.

From what I can make out the KA only has one real flaw and that is that you do tend to have to press down a bit when braking; I'm not sure how that effects the brake pads!

Oh and if you want to be really picky the KA can only carry four people (2 in the front 2 in the back) the boot and the glove box is small compared to other hatchbacks, though the back seats can be folded down.

In my opinion the KA is a sexy, fast little hatchback with great road handling and a personality to match.

Apart from cost, the reason Ford stuck with the old 1.3 litre 8 valve pushrod engine is because it pulls much better at low to medium revs than a modern 16 valve design of similar capacity. Sure, it might be a bit breathless on faster roads, but used as intended (local / town running about) it actually works better than the "revvier" modern engines in its rivals which feel flat unless worked hard.

The Ka fills its design brief perfectly. Cheap, low maintenance, an engine with far more pull at town speeds and revs than most similar sized rivals, low parts/servicing costs, and good fuel economy. Change the oil and set the tappets every 6,000 miles and you'll get 150k+ out of this engine without any hassles at all.

It is a cheap car, very noisy on the highways.. but remember it's a city car.. you can park it anywhere (so nice).. here in south america the car have only the 1.600cc engine.. and you can beat similar cars like opel corsa, suzuki ignis and toyota yaris on the green light without much problems. my car had problems with the CD player, but the dealer change it at no cost (2 times) and problems with the right window rubber.. the rain gets in when you get 100 - 120 kms/h (65-75 mph).. nothing else has failed.

I'm quite happy with the car.. even when it's kind of "thirsty car" for the size..

Of course this car will have limited headroom in the back - have you seen the size of it??! If you want a car with more head room then don't get a KA - simple. It's a small car designed for city driving, not a luxury BMW or Merc with more space inside than you know what to do with. A car that small just won't have a lot of head room - common sense really.

I love my Ka!!! I bought it brand-new four years ago, with a tiny 4 miles on the clock. It has only let me down once and that was through my own doing, because I ignored a suspicious rattling noise eventually meant my alternator needed replacing because I had neglected it! *oops*

But apart from that one time in four years, my Ka has never missed a beat! It has taken me comfortably all over the country and back, and you can fit a surprisingly large amount of stuff in it when moving house!!

Its amazingly cheap, and will reach speeds of an illegal nature that most little cars can only dream of!! (such as a Corsa and a Fiesta, the older model)

so there!!!

Woeful cars. Dated technology and construction. And people seem unable to pronounce its name.